I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
Here’s a snippet from the book:
***
Mari’s phone vibrated again. Before she answered, she cautioned Lana, “Taffy’s pulling too much. Don’t let him lead you—you’re the alpha dog. What is it, Brandy?”
“Brandy?” asked a chuckling male voice. “I’ve been called lots of things, but never Brandy.”
“Oops! Sorry, Uncle Herbie. I was just talking to my manager and thought she was calling me again.”
In the background, Auntie Viola started whooping with laughter. “She called you Brandy?”
“Anyway …” Uncle raised his voice to drown out his wife’s hooting. “I got a good opportunity for you, Mari.”
“Opportunity? What do you mean?” Maybe a new client? She had room in her Thursday night class, or she could squeeze in another private session in her week.
“D’you remember telling us about how lots of your Japanese clients were wishing you could kennel their dogs when they went back to Japan on trips?”
“My dog resort idea? Yeah, I remember.” More than just dog kenneling service, her own facility could serve as a training center so she wouldn’t have to rent that squalid room in that strip mall for her evening classes. It would also be a place she could offer grooming services and long-term rehabilitation training for more difficult dogs.
“Your Auntie Viola stumbled across a private elementary school that shut down, and they’re selling.”
Hmm. A school building would be “renovatable.” The individual classrooms would be perfect for either classes or kennels or grooming rooms. “But where? Most of my clients are on the North Shore—I’ve got to have a good location.” If she was too far away, her clients wouldn’t want to drive to her facility for classes, grooming, or private sessions.
“It’s in Waialua. It’s perfect.”
“But Uncle, I don’t have that kind of money in my bank account.” Granted, she had a decent chunk, since she’d bought her own home right out of college with the inheritance money she’d gotten from Grandma, and she’d saved most of her salary in the years since then. But enough to buy a school property?
“Auntie Vi says—”
The phone clicked. “Mari, I could sell your house in a heartbeat,” Auntie Vi chirped. “Your location in Haleiwa has become prime real estate in the last few years, no matter the way the economy is going. And thanks to the economy, that school is going cheap.”
“But Uncle, Auntie, that’s a lot of money. And where am I going to live?” But even as she asked the question, she knew—she could renovate the facility so she could live there. She’d probably have to, anyway, if she was going to kennel clients’ dogs.
“What do you mean?” Uncle Herbie asked. “You can live with your mom.”
Her spine did a reflexive jerk. Mom? No way. “She’s not going to want me back home. She only barely tolerates my dog training because it’s on the side, not full-time. If I start my own facility, she’ll go through the roof.”
“You have lots of options,” Auntie Vi said soothingly. “So, how about that school?”
“That means quitting my job.”
“You said yourself, you only work there to pay your bills,” said Auntie Vi. “And really, since you never spend your money, you’re probably building up an indecent amount in your portfolios—”
“Hey, hey,” Uncle Herbie said. “She’s technically still my client. Can’t talk about that.”
“Sorry, dear.”
“But I can help you with the money,” he said. “I have plenty of contacts at the bank. They can help you get a small business loan to get you off the ground after you buy the property.”
Wow. Quit her job, buy a business property. Expand her dog training side business to a full-time career.
And alienate her mother and her sister, who already hated the fact she worked with dogs at all.
“I don’t know, Uncle. That’s a big step. Let me think about it.”
“Don’t think too long,” Auntie Vi said. “That property won’t be on the market forever.”
Her own facility … but there was just too much risk. Too much fodder for Massive Family Drama.
***
Year of the Dog releases May 13 in the multi-author anthology, Danger in the Shadows.
Preorder Danger in the Shadows for 70% off
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